‘Pharma Bro’ arrives at low-security federal prison

Fort Dix, N.J. – The pharmaceutical-industry entrepreneur vilified for jacking up the price of a life-saving drug was moved Tuesday to a low-security federal prison in New Jersey.

Martin Shkreli was sent from the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York to the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix.

Shkreli, who was dubbed “Pharma Bro” for his loutish behavior, was sentenced last month to seven years in prison for securities fraud and fined $75,000.

According to the prison’s handbook , there are no bars, towers or locks on rooms. Inmates must demonstrate a high degree of responsibility, and “the expectations are that each inmate will comply.”

Amenities at the prison complex about 40 miles from Philadelphia include racquetball courts, pool tables and a music room.

The 35-year-old Shkreli was found guilty in August of lying to investors in two failed hedge funds and cheating them out of millions.

The case was unrelated to the 2015 furor Shkreli caused when he raised the price of a drug used to treat AIDS, malaria and cancer patients by more than 5,000 percent, but his arrest was seen as rough justice by his many critics.

Shkreli’s attorney, Benjamin Brafman, had argued that Shkreli deserved 18 months in prison or less and shouldn’t be punished for being outspoken.

The judge said the punishment was not about Shkreli’s raising the cost of the drug or his online antics.

“This case is not about Mr. Shkreli’s self-cultivated public persona … nor his controversial statements about politics or culture,” Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said.

The judge ruled earlier that Shkreli would have to forfeit more than $7.3 million in a brokerage account and personal assets, including a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album that he boasted of buying for $2 million.

Shkreli was initially free on bail but was jailed in September after he offered $5,000 for a strand of Hillary Clinton’s hair.